Date of Award

2023

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Cottrell, Catherine

Area of Concentration

Psychology

Abstract

Thought-action fusion, specifically moral thought-action fusion, is a cognitive distortion identified within the literature on obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) that involves the evaluation of immoral, obsessional thoughts as equivalent to immoral actions. This construct, along with obsessive compulsive cognition, generally, has been evidenced to be related to Christian religiosity, as certain Christian precepts emphasize moral purity of thought. As OCD symptomatology has also been associated with depression, the current study sought to investigate how religious individuals might differ from those with OCD when it comes to thought-action fusion, and how these groups might be differently affected by this distortion when it comes to depressive symptoms. A survey assessing religiosity, obsessive beliefs, thought-action fusion, and depression was distributed online to different Reddit groups pertaining to OCD and Christianity. Results showed that religiosity did exacerbate thought-action fusion symptoms in those with OCD, while those of high religiosity showed a significantly greater presence of moral thought-action fusion than groups of lower religiosity, though they also showed a lower degree of depression. These results imply that Christian religiosity and OCD have an additive effect when it comes to the presence of thought-action fusion, and tentatively supports that those of high religiosity may be differently affected by thought-action fusion when compared to those with obsessive compulsive disorder.

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